OMG Sorry Tax Credit Question Again....

[Maria1977]

Right, I spoke to the tax credit people this morning to try and update my earnings for this year, but they won't take them until I start earning again... next week... ffs seems stupid but there you go....

Anyways, I told them that I hadn't deducted any money off of my earnings for the maternity pay last year. I thought it was like £100 for the first 6 months = £600? But she said no it's £100 p/wk for 39 weeks? And as I started my maternity in october she's deducted £2200 from my earnings from last year? Is this right? I'm only crapping it because I don't have a clue what I'm doing when it comes to this kind of stuff and also I don't want to have to end up paying anything back and get a penalty lol

Also, does anyone know what I would be entitled to if I took redundancy from my job? I can either do 16 hrs p/wk from nxt week and bring home £160 before tax or take redundancy? But I don't know what would be better?

Any advice appreciated.

Thanks again xxx

 

[Lacey's Mummy]

The £100 a week from your earnings is right but I can't help with redundancy.

 

[Maria1977]

Thanx hun, am well impressed with that. Just hope they hurry up and sort out if I'm owed anything!!

 

[littlemiss83]

Hey chick, I used to be a tax officer but so much has changed since then, and i've never been 100% on maternity pay issues.

You should use the tax creds calculator (its the same system they use when you phone them up for an estimate) do a mock calculation, as if you were still on mat pay, and see the breakdown @ the end.

You may well be better off working part-time rather than taking redundancy, remember the tax credits will top up your wage (provided you and your OH dont have a combined income of more than a certain amount) and they will also pay child-care up to 80% (normally only for single parent families though, but you'll defo get something towards fees) You should also try the tax credit calculator to work out what you would get.

Its a bit of a pain to do the calculations as it asks for quite alot of info, you can estimate for a rough idea though.

Heres the link

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/taxcredits/payments-entitlement/entitlement/question-how-much.htm

 

[Maria1977]

Thanks hun.

I did try that tax credit calculator before my maternity leave and it said we were entitled to working tax credits (before baby was born) so I phoned them and they told me no I'm not, the calculator is wrong and even refused to send me a form lol

Each person I speak to seems to say something a bit different, and I just wish you could speak to the same person and get some kind of continuity!

Oh well, I guess it will get sorted eventually.

I'm going to stick with my job for the time being, I'm working from home anyways from next week so I haven't got to leave LO yet. I guess I'll see how the next couple of months pan out before I decide what to do. I really only want to make it through to the new year then start going in the office for a few hours here and there when I think my LO is old enough to start being left of a day time (atm I don't wanna miss anything lol) From next april/may I want him to go to nursery anyways coz I know that his the best thing for him, just not yet!!

Thanks for your help hun xxxx

 

[JJ Mum]

You will get more money to top up your salary, prob best to hang in with work for next mat pay as your ticker says you are TTC in four months time tho. We have just seen ours jump up hugely as now down to just SMP at mo, (was quite surprised )and hubbys wages are supermarket ones and pants!! Ive even added in holiday pay I will get in december as I get paranoid that I will under tell them what we get and cause issues!

 

[Maria1977]

You will get more money to top up your salary, prob best to hang in with work for next mat pay as your ticker says you are TTC in four months time tho. We have just seen ours jump up hugely as now down to just SMP at mo, (was quite surprised )and hubbys wages are supermarket ones and pants!! Ive even added in holiday pay I will get in december as I get paranoid that I will under tell them what we get and cause issues!

Hopefully we're going to start ttc sooner now because we want to move after next baby, so sooner we have another baby sooner I can get back to full time work and we can afford to move!!

They are useless, our friend told them everything whenever it happened and so they were always up2date, then she got married and her and her husband earned too much to claim and she'd told them when they started work etc so they knew and 6 months after her payments had stopped they wrote to her and told her they'd been errors and she owed them £500 Useless lol

 

[lanny]

When I work 16 hours a wk then stopped working our money didn't changed at all the just redone it on o/h wages alone and cos I only earn 4,500 a year when I work once they took it off it didn't make a huge difference maybe £10 a month if that xxxx

 

[littlemiss83]

Thanks hun.

I did try that tax credit calculator before my maternity leave and it said we were entitled to working tax credits (before baby was born) so I phoned them and they told me no I'm not, the calculator is wrong and even refused to send me a form lol

Each person I speak to seems to say something a bit different, and I just wish you could speak to the same person and get some kind of continuity!

Oh well, I guess it will get sorted eventually.

I'm going to stick with my job for the time being, I'm working from home anyways from next week so I haven't got to leave LO yet. I guess I'll see how the next couple of months pan out before I decide what to do. I really only want to make it through to the new year then start going in the office for a few hours here and there when I think my LO is old enough to start being left of a day time (atm I don't wanna miss anything lol) From next april/may I want him to go to nursery anyways coz I know that his the best thing for him, just not yet!!

Thanks for your help hun xxxx

Och ano - i've had endless problems with the tax credit helpline. They're a nightmare coz its just a call centre rather than an actual tax office. I'd say the online calculator will be the most reliable way of finding out figures ect. Its the same system as the staff use.

Anyway, hope you get it sorted out!